A Connected Community

In a pre-Civil Rights America, a thriving black community emerged in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Anchored by the Pilgrim Church, Rondo was a vibrant, unique and proud African American community. Lined with self-owned business, schools, and homes; Rondo was a thriving and independent neighborhood. Citizens of Rondo published newspapers, formed social clubs and other institutions that led the fight against persistent racism and oppression they often encountered throughout their otherwise daily lives. Despite the social, political and economic odds stacked against this community, Rondo thrived until it was callously destroyed by urban renewal and the construction of Interstate-94.